A coalition of women group on Thursday in Abuja, protested the gruesome murder of the People Democratic Party’s (PDP) Women Leader of Ofu Local Government of Kogi State, Mrs. Salome Acheju Abuh, who was reportedly shot and burnt to death by unknown assailants in her home on Monday in Ochadamu.
The organisations are Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF), Women in Politics Forum (WIPF), Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Women Radio FM and Equity Advocates (EA).
While the organisations and others at the protest amidst tears condemned the killing of Mrs. Abuh, they also lament the silence of the State Governor and President Muhammadu Buhari.
The protesters equally berated the Inspector General of Police IGP Mohammed Adamu, for his ‘fake police’ comment and his silence of the act.
The Chief Executive Officer NWTF, Ms. Mufuliat Fijabi; Executive Director EA, Ms. Ene Ede; Senior Programme Officer CDD, Mr. Austin Aigbe; President WIPF Ebere Ifendu; and the Managing Director Women Radio, Mrs. Toun Okewale-Sonaiya, said the killing is a setback for the inclusion of women into governance and democratic development of the country.
“Today, we are here to bring a more focused attention to the incidents of Gender based violence in the Kogi and Bayelsa governorship elections. We are concerned about the high level of violence before, during and after the elections. An attack on one woman is an attack on all Nigerian women.
“Prior to the 2019 General Elections, the NWTF, WiPF, Women Radio 91.7 FM (WFM) and other women focused organizations led targeted sensitization programs and issued public statements and actions to provide better public understanding, aimed to address electoral violence which creates barrier to women’s participation.
“As a result of intensive advocacy and intervention by CSOs, media, EMBs, development partners, there has been an increase in the number of women who have been convinced and are actively engaged in the electoral process. However, inspite of the increase in women’s participation in the electoral process, many women around the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory in Nigeria continue to experience significant violence around election time. Both female voters and politicians have experienced increased harassment, arson, violence and psychological abuse without any national action to bring it to a halt,” they said.
According to them all election observer groups on ground during the two elections including, the Civil Society Situation Room convened by PLAC, CDD, YIAGA Africa, and Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) among others have all also condemned this level of violence.
They said that this has also been closely x-rayed by the media.
They said these kinds of incidents are not only a threat to the stability of the electoral process but also affect women’s participation in the discourse of development as everyone has the right to life, liberty and choice, and as equal citizens of the nation, women’s choices should not be a premise for the violations of their rights.
“We hereby join the rising demand for justice by calling on the IGP to conduct an immediate investigation into all these cases of gender-based violence and in particular
the attack on particular women, the most recent being the burning to death of Ms. Acheju Salome Abuh in Kogi State. This is a threat to inclusive democracy in Nigeria. We call on all relevant authorities to take action to bring all perpetrators to book immediately. An injury to one woman is an injury to all women,” they said.
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